Big East still considering football division format but will let schools host title game

7:15 p.m. EST, May 22, 2012|

By Iliana Limón Romero, Orlando Sentinel

PONTE VEDRA BEACH — The Big East still is weighing the division format for its expanded football lineup, but the league has settled on a change in vision for its championship game format.

Once UCF, Houston, Memphis, SMU, Boise State and San Diego State join the Big East as new football members in 2013, the conference will be eligible to hold a champion game. Former Commissioner John Marinatto supported hosting a championship game in New York City with the hope of creating a must-see event on par with the league's successful basketball tournament played at Madison Square Garden.

After speaking with Pacific 12 representatives and doing further research, the Big East's athletic directors voted unanimously to allow the most successful regular season team to host the conference championship game. The Pac-12 and Conference USA both currently use the same format.

Nick Carparelli, Big East senior associate commissioner, said the conference hopes to begin holding a championship game in 2013.

UCF athletic director Todd Stansbury, who was on the committee that helped develop the Pac-12 championship game format before taking over the Knights' athletic program, said he is pleased with the Big East's decision.

"It's really the best possible option," Stansbury said. "You can get great fan support, and it's a reward for playing well during the regular season."

Football coaches and athletic directors reviewed a variety of division models Tuesday. The list includes splitting the teams into eastern and western divisions, north and south divisions or a non-geographic format. The non-geographic format would split the Florida and Texas schools to guarantee teams from the other parts of the country annual trips to recruiting-rich territory. The teams still could play their rivals annually in cross-divisional games.

The athletic directors asked Big East officials to gather more information, including researching which division format likely would be most attractive to national television networks. Carparelli said the athletic directors also are committed to picking a model that maintains natural rivalries and allows fans to see as many games as possible.

"We need to explore all options, and certainly one of the options could be to really embrace our coast-to-coast national concept," Carparelli said. "So that's something we're looking at, and I think it's smart to do that. Part of that analysis will require getting some input from our television consultants to see which one has the most value."

Stansbury said he is pleased the conference values UCF's rivalry with USF and is pleased the Bulls will be on the Knights' schedule.

Regardless of the division format, the retooled Big East lineup will play eight conference games starting in 2013. While some other conferences have shifted to nine league games and nonconference scheduling is becoming more challenging, Carparelli said the members thought it is tougher to become bowl-eligible with more conference games. He added Big East schools were accustomed to scheduling five nonconference games, so the burden of arranging four games would be an improvement.